Clang!
When the power of the Three Talents Formation Flags was fully awakened, the metal element transformed into countless sharp swords that stabbed toward the Zhao Household's immortal cultivators.
The wood element formed countless vines that spread out in every direction, blotting out the sky and covering the earth as they restricted the Zhao Household cultivators' movements.
Finally, the fire element clung to the swords and vines, continually posing a deadly threat to the Zhao Household cultivators.
"Save me... Ancestor, save me!"
Caught within the Three Talents Formation Flags, the Zhao Household cultivators let out miserable screams. Even the Zhao Household's first elder, second elder... were gravely wounded in an instant.
As for the Zhao Household cultivators below the Bone Refining Realm, they were completely slaughtered in just two breaths!!
The sight left the cultivators from the Zhao Household's subordinate forces drenched in cold sweat.
"Damn it! How can it be a Spirit-Nurturing Grade Law Treasure?"
The Zhao Household ancestor watched his clansmen being pierced through one after another by the metal-element swords, then burned to ashes by the fire element. His expression turned ugly to the extreme.
He had been struck by a flame talisman, and his own condition was terrible... One careless mistake today, and the Zhao Household's entire party might be wiped out!!
Without immortal cultivators to hold him in check, the Zhao Household's armored guards were no different from ants before Lin Xiye!
"Earth River Shield!"
At that thought, the Zhao Household ancestor could no longer worry about much else and immediately brought out his trump card.
He held a crimson iron shield and placed two Spirit Stone fragments on it.
The next second, the crimson iron shield glowed faintly, firmly protecting the Zhao Household ancestor, as well as the Zhao Household's first elder, second elder...
This crimson iron shield was also a Spirit Nurturing Law Treasure.
"Hold the Earth River Shield steady and buy me a quarter of an hour."
"Once I recover to my peak, I will make the Lin Household pay a terrible price!"
The Zhao Household ancestor looked at the two elders and spoke with anger in his voice.
The Zhao Household's losses this time were simply too severe! In the mere two breaths since arriving at Qiao Town... the Zhao Household had lost nine immortal cultivators!
Many of those nine immortal cultivators had a chance of breaking through to Bone Refining, or even the Organ Refining Realm! They were all future pillars of the Zhao Household.
But now, Lin Xiye had cut down every one of those pillars...
"Yes, Ancestor."
The Zhao Household's first and second elders answered in unison. Though they too were badly injured, they knew full well that they had to buy the ancestor time... Otherwise, certain death awaited them!
Having fallen to this point, both men were filled with regret.
Had they known Lin Xiye was so troublesome, they would never have come to provoke the Lin Household in the first place!
But now, the Zhao Household was riding a tiger and could not dismount.
Besides, Lin Xiye would not let them go anymore!!
Starting with the Zhao Household's third elder, Lin Xiye had already slain ten of its immortal cultivators. This enmity... would be difficult to resolve!
The two Zhao Household elders gripped the Earth River Shield together, desperately holding their ground.
The Zhao Household ancestor took out a strange, pitch-black pill and swallowed it without hesitation.
This strange, pitch-black pill was a Life Pill! A Life Pill refined from immortal cultivators' Essence Blood!
Swallowing it would allow an immortal cultivator to recover from injuries quickly...
Over the years, the Zhao Household had slaughtered quite a few small immortal cultivation forces, using the Essence Blood of many immortal cultivators to slowly refine this single Life Pill!!
The Zhao Household ancestor had originally intended to use it to help himself break through to the Spirit Nourishing Realm.
But now that he faced a life-or-death crisis, he could no longer worry about so much.
At the thought... the flames of rage in his chest reached their peak.
For this Life Pill, he had purchased a piece of fire essence and a Pill Furnace, and had even slaughtered dozens of immortal cultivators!
Taking this pill meant throwing away the fruits of his many years of painstaking effort!!
Before long, however, the Zhao Household ancestor's heart grew calm again.
He looked at the three immortal cultivators from the Zhao Household's subordinate forces, a vicious glint flashing in the depths of his eyes.
He planned to slaughter every immortal cultivation force within a thousand li of Zichuan City after dealing with Lin Xiye, then use the cultivators' Essence Blood to refine another Life Pill!!
He did not have much life left and had to break through to the Spirit Nourishing Realm as soon as possible.
Otherwise, in a few decades at most, he would become a pile of dry bones, his life ended and his Dao extinguished.
After swallowing the Life Pill, the gravely injured Zhao Household ancestor's breathing gradually steadied!!
He was at Organ Refining Perfection and also possessed a Spirit Nurturing Law Treasure... Even in a battle of attrition, he could wear Lin Xiye down to death.
If Lin Xiye had not thrown out five flame talismans and activated the Three Talents Formation Flags in an instant just now, he would not have been forced into such a sorry state.
Watching the Zhao Household ancestor recover rapidly, Lin Xiye took out another three Spirit Stone fragments, raising the power of the Three Talents Formation Flags another notch!
"Go!"
Three spirit poison bottles flew from Lin Xiye's palm, landing instantly beside the Zhao Household ancestor and the two Zhao Household elders.
The spirit poison bottles exploded upon hitting the ground.
The instant the Spirit Poison Bottle burst, multicolored poisonous mist began to spread!
Originally, this poisonous mist could only have a mildly anesthetic effect on immortal cultivators below the Spirit Nourishing Realm.
But after being strengthened by the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror, it could threaten even Spirit Nourishing Realm cultivators! Not only did it have an anesthetic effect, it could also corrode an immortal cultivator's soul!
"Hold your breath and focus! Retreat, quickly..."
The Zhao Household ancestor, whose cultivation was at Organ Refining Perfection, immediately sensed intense danger when he saw the poisonous mist!!
Immortal cultivators had always possessed keen instincts for danger! Some mighty figures with profound cultivation could even perceive the future and divine cause and effect...
"Hehe... hehe..."
Just as the Zhao Household ancestor shouted, trying to warn the two elders to retreat, their entire bodies were already numb, and their souls had fallen into some kind of illusion.
Seeing this, the Zhao Household ancestor knew full well that he could not save these two clansmen!
Of course, he had never cared about his so-called clansmen! He had protected the two Zhao Household elders earlier only so they could share the pressure on him.
When the crucial moment truly came, his own life mattered most!!
For immortal cultivators, what place was there for bonds of clan or family?!
The Great Dao was vast; love and hate were merely the entanglements of worldly mortals...
After abandoning his two clansmen, the Zhao Household elder raised the Earth River Shield and stopped tending to the injuries within his body. He forcibly stirred up his Qi and Blood, hoping to charge straight out of the Three Talents Formation Flags' range at any cost.
After this battle, even if he survived, he would lose decades of life from overexerting his Qi and Blood.
But at the moment, he had no other choice.
After all, only by staying alive could he have hope!
"The mountains are high and the rivers long. This... is not over!"
Even as the Zhao Household ancestor fled for his life, he did not forget to hurl threats.
In his view, even though he was gravely injured, with the Earth River Shield protecting him... Lin Xiye could never keep him here!
Yet the moment his words fell, another five flame talismans flew from Lin Xiye's hand!!
The flame talismans burst into brilliant light in midair, like five miniature suns. Each radiated terrifying heat, incinerating even the surrounding rocks!